Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023

Submission 600

Part of a series on Cricket. [View Related Entries]

About

Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 refers to discussions and memes about the ongoing 16th edition of the yearly Indian Premier League cricket tournament. Moments from the tournament that gained viral meme recognition included Gautam Gambhir's reactions, RCB ran reactions, and Rinku Singh's performance against the Gujarat Titans.

Background

India's IPL is a men's Twenty20 cricket league with an annual season every year since 2008. In the 2023 season, the cricket tournament began on March 31st and ends on May 28th, and marked a return to the home-and-away format after hosting three seasons at neutral venues due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Developments

Player Auctions

Player auctions for various cricketers and captains took place in the months leading up to the 2023 IPL, with an infographic about average players' salaries making the rounds on Reddit and Twitter (seen below, left),^[3] and memes about Pakistani captains and the world's number three batsman Babar Azam going unsold at the player auction going viral. On March 23rd, the Instagram^[4] page @cricketuncut posted a meme about Babar Azam and other players going unsold, gathering over 1,000 likes in two weeks (seen below, right).

Jio Cinema

Mukesh Ambani-owned streaming service JioCinema bought the rights to screen the 2023 edition of the IPL and made it freely accessible. However, past issues with the service crashing and glitching led to consumers creating memes about the difficulties of using it. Other users made jokes about the various features offered by the streaming service, such as commentary in Indian languages besides English and Hindi.

On March 28th, 2023, Twitter^[1] user @therdmeme posted a meme about JioCinema, gathering over 6,000 likes in two weeks (seen below, left). On March 31st, Twitter^[2] user @sagarcasm posted a meme about IPL commentary in the Bhojpuri language, gathering over 13,000 likes in two weeks (seen below, right).

Rinku Singh

On April 9th, 2023, the Kolkata Knight Riders won against the Gujarat Titans by three wickets. The final over of the match, with 29 runs needed for KKR's victory, batsman Rinku Singh hit five consecutive sixes and orchestrated one of the best finishes in IPL history. He subsequently became a popular subject of memes on the Indian internet.

On April 9th, 2023, Instagram^[5] page @danky_cricket posted a meme comparing Rinku Singh to Indian cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar, gathering over 16,000 likes in five days (seen below, left). On April 10th, 2023, Twitter^[6] user @Villain_773 posted a meme discussing Rinku Singh's salary, gathering over 5,000 likes in four days (seen below, right).

On April 9th, 2023, Twitter^[7] user @smileandraja posted a meme about Rinku Singh's success, gathering over 3,200 likes in 5 days (seen below).

Rinku Singh entering KKR dressing room. #KKRvsGT pic.twitter.com/IXSwMbIP95

— Rajabets India🇮🇳👑 (@smileandraja) April 9, 2023

On April 9th, Twitter^[8] user @Siddhu__94 posted a meme about Rinku Singh, gathering over 6,000 likes in five days (seen below, left). On April 9th, Twitter^[9] user @firki07 posted a meme about Rinku Singh as well, gathering over 5,000 likes in five days (seen below, right).